Bucknell University
7-7, 1-1
Lehigh
10-5, 2-0
Bucknell Men Fall to Lehigh in Sojka Pavilion Debut, 60-56
1/15/2003 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2003
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Matt Logie scored 22 points and Zlatko Savovic added 18 to help Lehigh spoil Bucknell's first game in Sojka Pavilion with a come-from-behind 60-56 victory.
The duo of Logie and Savovic scored 31 of their 40 combined points in the second half to help the Mountain Hawks erase a 32-20 halftime deficit.
Kevin Bettencourt led Bucknell with 18 points.
After 64 years in Davis Gym, Bucknell lifted the lid on its sparkling new Sojka Pavilion. The announced attendance of 3,622 was the highest ever for a basketball game on Bucknell's campus.
For 15 minutes Bucknell looked like it was going to have a laugher in its Sojka Pavilion debut, as the Bison sprinted to a 23-8 lead behind eight quick points from Boakai Lalugba and two 3-pointers by Bettencourt. Lehigh stitched together a 7-0 run to close within 26-19, but Bucknell made the last three buckets of the half to go back up by 12 at intermission.
Back-to-back baskets by Ben Slater kept Bucknell's lead in double figures at 45-33 with 14:23 to play, but the rest of the half belonged to Lehigh. Logie had a 5-point possession, making a three and after a foul under the basket hitting a short jumper, to kick-start a 12-2 run that brought the visitors within two at 47-45 with 10:15 remaining.
Bettencourt's 3-point play and two free throws by Tarik Viaer-McClymont pushed Bucknell's lead back to seven at 54-47 at the 7-minute mark, but the Bison would not score again until the waning seconds.
Lehigh scored 11 points in a row over a 6-minute span to take the lead for the first time. Chris Stephenson's fastbreak layup tied it at 54, and Logie made a tough fadeaway jumper to push Lehigh ahead with 1:13 to play. Savovic, who scored a dozen in the second half, made a contested baseline jumper with 27 seconds remaining to make it 58-54.
Dan Blankenship's driving layup with 16 seconds left made it 58-56, but the Bison had only four team fouls and needed six seconds to burn off fouls before reaching the bonus. When they finally did, they sent Logie, a 93 percent free-throw shooter, to the line. Logie made both to seal the win.
The Bison, who missed seven of their last eight field goals, saw their two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 7-7, 1-1 in Patriot League play. Lehigh won its fourth straight and improved to 10-5, 2-0.
Lalugba, the Patriot League's leading scorer and rebounder, finished with 12 points, six rebounds and a career-high-tying four assists. The Bison shot 46.9 percent from the field.
Lehigh, who played without starting point guard Ra Tiah (shoulder), shot 56.7 percent in the second half and 47.2 percent for the game.
Bucknell plays its first Patriot League road game of the season on Saturday at Navy at 3:30 p.m.
